Too tired to Tango?
by knittingeek
Summary: Kate just wants to go home and sleep, but Castle has other ideas. Not really T, just to be safe.


_**This is not at all related to any of my other stories. Just something rolling around in my little pea brain so I thought I would get it out of my head. A little something for the "Fluffsters" I hope you enjoy it. **_

_**As per usual characters are not mine**_.

"Hey."

She looked over at him and gave a half smile. "Hey."

He looked at her with concern on his face. "Are you okay? You look whipped"

"I'm just really, really tired Castle, this has been a hellish week." She raked her hand through her hair and yawned and then shook her head and looked back at the paperwork on her desk.

"Well, I'm here to make it all better, Alexis and I are making spaghetti and meatballs for supper and then we are going to go see _Ramona and Beezus_, why don't you join us?"

Not looking up from her paperwork she said "Aren't you both a little old for that movie?"

"What? Are you kidding? I'll have you know Detective that _Beezus and Ramona_ was the first chapter book that Alexis read all by herself…when she was only seven."

Kate looked at him and propped her chin on her hand and smiled. "I remember when my mom read that book to me, I loved it so much, I asked her to start reading it over again as soon as she finished. I was so excited when she came home from the library the next day with _Ramona the Pest_."

"So, is that a yes?"

"No, I don't think so, I think I am just going to go home and sleep for at least 12 hours straight, I wouldn't be very good company."

"But I miss you; I haven't seen you all week?" He whined.

She rolled her eyes at him, they'd been working 16-18 hour days together all week, but she knew what he meant. Just slightly louder than a whisper she said "you mean you haven't had any sex all week."

"I don't mean the sex. Well, I do, but I miss _you_, I miss _us_, hugs and kisses all of it. How about just supper? I know you, you are going to go home and dip week old celery into a jar of Nutella and call it a meal. You've hardly eaten anything all week except for coffee and reheated takeout. Let me at least feed you, then you can go home, OK?"

"No Castle, not tonight. I just need to unwind; I need a long soak in the tub and sleep, lots of sleep." She looked away from him and back to her paperwork, if he didn't leave her alone soon she would never get it done.

"OK, look I'm sorry I don't mean to smother you." He placed his hand over hers quickly and gave it a squeeze and got up and said "Good night Kate, maybe we can catch up later tomorrow, OK?" He got up to leave and she instantly felt sorry.

"No, I'm sorry, but thanks for the offer….I'll call you in the morning. Have fun at the movie…Oh…and save me some leftovers?" She smiled sheepishly at him.

He grinned. "Deal. Now go home and eat and get some sleep, I'll call you tomorrow."

He took off towards the elevator and she finished up her paperwork and headed out of the precinct. She chuckled at Castle's description of her supper. The celery was sitting in a brown puddle in the vegetable bin in her fridge and she had scraped the last of the Nutella out of the jar with her fingers this morning. She should go shopping…maybe tomorrow. She couldn't deal with the grocery store at this hour on a Friday night.

When she opened the door to her apartment the heat and smell hit her instantly. She must have forgotten to turn up the a/c when she left that morning. She went over and put it on high and then went into her kitchen…apparently she had forgotten to empty the garbage too. "Oy Vey", she said aloud. "I should have taken Castle up on his offer." She was too tired to deal with this. She opened the fridge to see what her options were for supper…it didn't smell any better in there. A few eggs, but she wasn't sure how old they were….she picked up a milk carton…3 days past the due date. She started emptying the contents of the vegetable bin, most of which was no longer recognizable, into the garbage disposal and throwing the takeout containers into the garbage. She dumped some baking soda into the disposal and then turned on the water and let it churn. She placed the garbage by her door and went into her room and changed her clothes and put on a t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants and threw a few articles of clothing into her bag. She went into the bathroom and washed up and pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. She placed a few drops of peppermint essential oil in a dish of warm water in the kitchen and grabbed her bag and the garbage. She dumped the garbage off in the dumbwaiter on her floor and then went outside and hailed a cab…too tired to drive.

She had timed things perfectly. By the time she arrived at Castle's loft he and Alexis were gone. It smelled heavenly. The sauce must have been simmering all day. She tossed her bag on a chair in the kitchen and opened the fridge and pulled out a container of leftovers. She popped it in the microwave and poured herself a large glass of wine. She took her food into the living room and turned on the stereo and just enjoyed the tones of the light jazz music while she curled up on the couch and ate her food and sipped her wine. When she was finished eating she refilled her wine glass, grabbed her bag and headed towards the bedroom. She undressed and went into the bathroom and filled the tub and took a long bath. Almost an hour later she climbed out of the tub and pulled the ponytail out of her hair and raked her hands through it. She put on one of Castle's dress shirts and slid under the covers of his bed. She was asleep within minutes of her head hitting the pillow.

Alexis had hooked up with friends after the movie and planned to spend the night with Paige. Castle had toyed with the idea of going to Kate's but decided to just leave her be for the night. He walked into the loft and knew she was there; he caught the faint scent of her perfume lingering in the loft. He smiled as he went down the hall and opened the door to his room and stood there for a few minutes and just watched her sleep. She was on his side of the bed in his shirt, her loose brown curls splayed across the pillow, the empty wine glass on the bedside table. He smiled thinking how relaxing her evening ended up after all. He went into the bathroom and took a quick shower and then slipped in beside her. Remembering their conversation at the precinct he figured he'd let her sleep and not get too close but within seconds she turned over and wrapped herself around him and hugged him tight. He kissed her lightly, she took in a breath and kissed him and softly sighed.

"So, what made you change your mind, did you run out of celery?" He said as he placed light kisses along her neck.

She chuckled and very sleepily, she replied "Nutella."

He laughed. "And here I thought you might have actually missed me."

"Hmmmm, maybe just a little." She kissed him and then laid her head on his chest and said "your spaghetti was really, really good."

"And the wine?"

"I especially enjoyed the wine."

He rolled her off of his chest and onto her back and started to unbutton her shirt and placed soft kisses across her shoulder and down her chest.

She smiled at him and said "I'm really, really tired Rick."

"You can go to sleep. I'm just going to play with you for a little while."

She laughed and brought his face back up to hers and kissed him. Wrapping her legs around his waist and rolling over on top of him, she suddenly wasn't all that tired anymore.

_**Thanks again for all the reviews and alerts for my stories. It makes me silly happy ;o) **_

_**FYI: Beezus and Ramona, written by Beverly Cleary was originally published in 1955! **_


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